This is the official missionary page for Elder Hyrum Ruby serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the California Ventura area.

Monday, January 5, 2015

This is the Lord's Work

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post a letter from Elder Ruby. We have had two weeks off of school and I enjoyed spending time with my children. But, hopefully, I am back on track with the start of 2015!

We have seen so many miracles this past week! We have been working hard to do the right things, to be obedient, and to really think about what investigators/less-actives need. We have three new investigators. One of them just fell into our hands. It is a long story, but we were in the right place at the right time. That actually happened a lot this week. It sure has been a blessing.

Elder Campbell is just as great as ever. He is beginning to see what missionary work is really like. He still has high hopes (and I encourage them), but he now has a little bit more of an understanding of reality. He can see that these people are real people, with real lives and real circumstances, and sometimes all we see is the surface of their concerns and problems. I am trying to teach him, and learn myself, that there are deeper concerns and desires than they let us know. He is a hard worker and obedient. We work well together and compliment one another's teaching and thinking styles.

We had an experience this week that strengthened my testimony in listening to the spirit and that it is the Lord who is hastening His work. Elder Campbell and I were on our way to try out a "power hour" in Santa Maria. As we walked out of the door to the apartment, we both had a strong feeling that we were forgetting something. We went back into the apartment and listed everything we thought we needed. We picked up more pass-along cards, brought our coats, looked at everything in the apartment, and stood there thinking of what we had forgotten. Nothing popped out as "that's it". Eventually the feeling left, we left the house, and we chose to visit a less-active member before our "power hour".

We paused to think of the message we would share and then walked across the street. A Hispanic man and his son were walking and stopped us. With the little Spanish we knew, and the little English he knew, we tried to speak with him. His son translated for us. He asked about Christ and about death. We told him that there were Spanish missionaries that we could send to him. He gave us his address. Then he gave us his number without us asking for it and he asked where the church was and when it started. He was asking all the questions we, as missionaries, were supposed to ask! We found this man and his son (or they found us) because of promptings that we both received. I really want to know this man's side of the story, but we sent the referral on to the Spanish Elders. We were definitely led by the spirit as we found and taught that day. The testimony is that nothing we did was from our own intelligence or planning. That was all God. He is hastening his work and we just happened to be the instruments that He used to do that!

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